SELTI is an organization that promotes tourism through literature. Each feature offers readers short stories, poetry, and book excerpts about real places to visit. Every story has a companion travel guide with links for more information. SELTI is the nation's premier site for the hot new genre of tourism fiction. Available now at Amazon: BLIND FATE, the first interactive tourism novel on Kindle. Visit the new SELTI at selti.org.

Congratulations to Natalie Cone, whose tourism short story "The Totem" won the Lookout Alabama SELTI Writing Contest! Read Natalie's story below, which will be published in the inaugural issue of Lookout Alabama magazine this summer. Natalie also won the 2013 SELTI Tourism Fiction Award and a $500 prize from the Alabama Tourism Department for promoting tourism to the Lookout Mountain Alabama area in a fun new way: through a tourism short story. The award and prize were presented by Senator Clay Scofield, chairman of the Alabama Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee, at the recent Lookout Alabama summit held at Cook Castle in Fort Payne, Alabama.

The photos in the story below are of the real locations, the Bookshelf Etc. bookstore and DeSoto State Park, both in Fort Payne. Click on the links in the tourism guide at the end of the story to find out how to visit these places in person, not just read about them in a story. The tourism guide also includes links and information on surrounding tourism attractions to make a fun-filled family or romantic vacation in the Lookout Mountain Alabama area.

"THE TOTEM"

The real Connie from the Bookshelf Etc. bookstore in
Fort Payne, Alabama, sells a magical book with an
eagle totem to the fictional character Roy.

Roy James ran his hand across the
soft leather book cover. The symbol of an eagle with outstretched wings was
imprinted on the front, with no title or author. The woman at The Book Shelf
had recommended it when he wandered into her store looking for a good read to
pass the time until the rain stopped and the sun shone again. “It's guaranteed
to bring out the child in you,” she'd said with a twinkle in her kind eyes.Connie, he thought, drawing her
name to mind.

He'd paid for it and left, jogging
through the rain back to his jeep. Beville, a shaggy brown dog, greeted him
from the passenger's seat. Roy tossed the book
beneath the dog's feet and twisted the key in the ignition, returning back to
his quiet campsite at DeSotoState Park.

Sitting in a lawn chair, Roy watched as the rain
poured in rivers off the awning. At 48, he was a retired Second Lieutenant in
the army, and his camper was his home. Moving from state to state was the only
life he was accustomed to, and it suited him well.

Roy reads the magical book before falling asleep at his
DeSoto State Park campsite.

As the sounds of gunfire filled
his ears from a distant memory coming to life, he unconsciously rubbed at the
bullet wound scarring his left shoulder. It was a permanent reminder of the day
his life had been saved, and the day that Lieutenant Carter Beville died saving
it.

Roy
cleared his throat to force down the rising emotion and patted the dog's head,
relieved when the echoes of gunfire faded into the sounds of rain beating the
ground. He opened the cover of the book in
his lap and began to read the handwritten pages.

It was the warmth of the sun that
woke him. Roy
uncurled from his lawn chair and yawned, feeling refreshed after such a deep
nap. Roy stood
and stretched taking a deep breath of fresh, rain-dampened air. The moment his
pants slipped from his waist and crumpled at his feet, he knew there was a
problem.

Roy awakes in his ten year-old body.

“What the...” he muttered as he
looked over at Beville, who stood as tall as his chest.

“Beville, you're huge.” It was
when he spoke the words that he realized his voice had lost its depth. Roy
waded out of his jeans and tripped on the hem of his shirt as he stumbled into
the camper and stood in front of the mirror. “What's happening?” he asked his
smooth, freckled-face reflection.

He lifted his sleeve and found the
scar gone. He scratched his head as he tried to remember the last thing he did
before falling asleep.

“The book,” he said as he darted
back outside and retrieved it from the ground. He remembered reading about the
Cherokee Indian Chief that learned the secret of staying young forever. Roy shook his head. “This
can't be real.”

The woman from the neighboring
campsite stared as she hung clothes on the line. He tugged at his shirt
awkwardly.

“Bingo,” he said to himself as he
noticed the small jeans that she pinned up. He waited until she left before
snapping the jeans and a t-shirt off the line.

“Hey, what do you think you're
doing?” a voice called from behind him.

The boy's blue eyes glittered with
the opportunity of a secret. He glanced back toward his own camper, where his
mother shuffled around inside. He shifted his attention back to Roy. “Try me.”

“I fell asleep a grown man, and
woke up like this.” The boy blinked, glanced at Roy's over-sized shirt, then
nodded. Roy
continued. “I read this book that I bought earlier today. I think it may have
done something to me, because the next thing I know, I... well...” Roy held out his arms.
“See?”

“That's so cool,” the boy said,
then stuck out his hand. “I'm Aiden.”

“I'm Roy,” he said, shaking Aiden's hand. “So, you
believe me, then?”

“Of course I do. Don't you believe
in magic?”

“No. That's ridiculous.”

Aiden shook his head and sighed.
“Let's see this book of yours.”

He thumbed through the book while Roy changed.

“Did you notice the map at the end
of the book? It matches the one for DeSotoState Park. It says that
a Cherokee figured out the secret of true life, but it's hidden at LaurelFalls.”

“What are you suggesting?”

Before Aiden could answer, Beville
slurped a long tongue over his arm. “Great dog you have,” Aiden laughed. “He
should come with us.”

“Come where?”

“To LaurelFalls.
If we can find this totem, maybe it will have some kind of reverse effect and
make you into a man again.”

“What totem?”

“It's the way Cherokee Indians
stored magic, by making totems.”

“I don't know. I mean, how do we
even know what it looks like?”

Aiden held up the book. “It's on
the cover.”

Roy
laughed, despite himself. “Well, I guess we should go try to find this totem.”

Roy and Aiden prepare to hike to Laurel Falls in
DeSoto State Park.

At the trail head, Aiden spread
out the map. “If we start here it will lead us right to LaurelFalls.
If the totem has stayed hidden all these years, it must be tucked away out of sight.
I think it is probably behind the falls somewhere.”

Roy
grinned. “You're pretty smart for a kid. How old are you?”

“Ten.”

“Me, too. I think.”

“I learned a lot of these things
in boy scouts. I don't have a dad, so my mom likes for me to stay involved in
boy-type stuff.”

“Why don't you have a dad?”

Roy and Aiden hike the real trail to Laurel Falls.

Aiden folded the map carefully and
tucked it into his shirt pocket. “My mom never got married, but she wanted a
baby really, really bad. So she prayed, and God brought her a baby.”

“Well, I had a mom, but she died
when I was really little. I don't really remember her. My dad once told me that
my eyes were like hers, but he never talked about her much.”

Aiden nodded, straightening his
backpack. “Yeah, I know what you mean. So, are you ready to go?”

Roy
eyed Aiden's full pack. “Is all that really necessary?”

“Like I learned in boy scouts,
always be prepared.”

Roy
chuckled. “You would make a great soldier.”

Within minutes, Roy found Aiden to be very inquisitive. As
Aiden fired off questions, Roy
found himself talking about growing up as a general's son, moving over and
over. He told about how hard it was to make friends only to leave them again,
so he'd never bothered to make any at all. He told stories about Lieutenant
Beville, and the time they'd gotten into trouble for building sand castles in
the desert. He told him the jokes they used to share, and how Beville had died.

The boys arrive at Laurel falls

When the boys finally reached the
falls, Aiden led the way around the other side. LaurelFalls
was a majestic cascade of water over two tiers of rock. There was a deep pool
at its base, and the thick woods around both sides made them feel as if they'd
discovered a secret place.

“I think if you crawled over from
this side and flatten yourself between the tiers, you could search behind the
falls,” Aiden said.

Roy
nodded, then took a deep breath and began the climb, easing onto the damp rock
on his belly. He inched forward, wincing against the cold water droplets that
trickled into his eyes. Once Roy was behind the falls, he began to feel
around, wishing he'd brought a light. “This is stupid,” he shouted back,
feeling nothing but cold rock beneath his hands.

Roy finds the totem from the book
buried behind Laurel Falls.

Just before giving up, Roy felt a mossy patch at
the back of the rock. He dug deep into the wet mud. When his fingers wrapped
around a small, loose stone, he dragged it out and wiped it clean.

It was the totem. An eagle with
outstretched wings, just like the cover of the book.

Roy
sighed with relief, gripping the small carved stone. He held it to his forehead
and wished himself back into his real body. Nothing happened.

“Did you find anything?” Aiden
shouted.

Roy
didn't answer. He backed out of the crevice and descended the rock back to the
base of the falls, and held out the totem.

Roy attempts to use the totem's magic
to make himself older again.

“I found it, alright,” he said.
“But it doesn't work. All of this was for nothing.”

Roy
tossed the totem into the pool of water and stormed away, leaving Aiden behind.

By the time Roy reached his camp, it was getting dark,
and the temperature had dropped. He built a fire and huddled near it, wrapping
his arms around Beville for warmth. He had abandoned his wet, muddy clothes for
the over-sized jeans and shirt. At least they were dry, even if they did hang
from his small frame.

Aiden appeared from the shadows
and sat down. “I don't know how things are in the army, but in boy scouts, we
learned that you should never leave a man behind.”

“I'm sorry, Aiden. I should have
never left you like that.”

“It's okay. I just want to say one
thing. Magic isn't supposed to be just some fun trick. When a person
experiences magic, it means they have something to learn.” He held out the
totem.

Aiden returns the totem to Roy.

Roy
took it, the stone warm from Aiden's hand. “Did you learn that in scouts, too?”

“No. I learned that from my mom. I
attached it to some twine I had in my pack so that you can wear it around your
neck. That way you'll always remember me.”

Roy
slipped the totem around his neck. “I'll always remember you,” he said. “You're
the best friend I never had.”

Aiden smiled. “Goodbye, Roy. We're leaving in the
morning. I hope that one day I get to see you again.” He rose and returned to
his own camp.

Roy
curled up to the fire. With the totem clutched in his fist, he drifted off to
sleep.

Roy
woke with a start, the fire still hot beside him. The first thing he noticed
was how much smaller the totem felt in his hand. He sat up and touched his left
shoulder where his scar had returned. He leaped to his feet, and miraculously,
his pants stayed in place.

When he heard laughter from the
neighboring campsite, he ran over to show Aiden that the totem had worked. Aiden and his mother looked up
from their seat at the picnic table, surprised at his sudden appearance. Aiden
frowned at the strange man standing before him, then recognition filled his
eyes.

“Hi, Roy.”

Once Roy returns to his older body, he meets
Aiden's mother, Rachel.

Aiden's mother stood, her glossy
brown hair hanging in waves at her shoulders. She held out a small hand.

“I'm
Rachel. It's nice to meet Aiden's new friend. Would you like to join us for
dinner? It's just roasted hot dogs. But we have plenty for a third.”

“And a fourth,” Aiden laughed as
Beville snagged a hot dog from the table.

Rachel giggled. Roy couldn't help but notice that her eyes
glittered when she laughed.

Aiden patted the seat next to him.
“Do you believe in magic, now?”

Roy
smiled. “Sure do.”

***

Just before closing time at The
Bookshelf, Connie meticulously dusted the shelves. She restocked a few titles
that had recently sold, making sure to leave a space at the end of the shelf.
Before her eyes, a leather-bound book appeared, bearing an image of a dragon on
the front.

SELTI and Lookout Alabama magazine wish to sincerely thank all those who entered the contest and the judges who volunteered their time to help us select a winner. All of the five stories listed above represent the Lookout Mountain Alabama area well, and each will be published in a future quarterly edition of Lookout Alabama magazine, so be sure and sign up for a subscription.

TOURISM GUIDE

Laurel Falls, the Bookshelf Etc., and Desoto State Park are all real places to visit in or near Fort Payne, Alabama. However, these attractions are only a few of many scenic places in the Lookout Mountain Alabama area. Other area attractions showed up in many of the Lookout Alabama SELTI Writing Contest.stories, so the tourism links below offer more information on how to visit the area. Seeing these sights in person is the only way to fully appreciate the breathtaking beauty of this preserve of national wonders. Some of the area amenities include charming cabins and luxurious lodges, quaint bed and breakfasts with spectacular views, delicious independent restaurants, and unique local shops. Lookout Mountain Alabama offers a getaway, both physical and mental, from the stresses of everyday modern urban life. Browse through the links below for a taste of what it would be like to slip away either on a fun-filled family vacation or a more intimate romantic adventure. Lookout Mountain Alabama offers both!

About Me

I am the founder of SELTI and author of Blind Fate, the first tourism novel in the world with an interactive travel guide inside the book (order here). Blind Fate has live links in the book that take readers instantly to the websites of the real tourism places found in the story--all with one click.
Blind Fate was featured in USA Today here.
Also, please browse the SELTI features for online tourism guides to many Southern books. Email me at literarytourism@aol.com or SELTI Executive Director Kathryn Lang at kathrynlang@kathrynlang.com.
For a more detailed explanation of SELTI, please visit the introduction page at: Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative.